


the most stable shape (side stories)

by openended



Series: don't threaten me with a good time (victoria ryder) [6]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: (someone else's kids), A Trail of Hope, Anxiety Disorder, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Cuddling & Snuggling, Cunnilingus, Cute Kids, Domestic Fluff, Drunken Kissing, Established Relationship, Family, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hugs, Injury, Jaal needs a hug, Kissing, Meet the Family, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Mother-Son Relationship, Multi, Oral Sex, Panic Attacks, Past Abuse, Polyamory, Pre-Relationship, Support, Threesome, Threesome - F/M/M, Thunderstorms, Touch-Starved, Touching, Unexpected pharmaceutical reactions, Watching Movies, ascendant can bite me: a summary of my andromeda experience, casual touches, cute drunk!victoria, guest starring: Ellen Ryder, guest starring: Sahuna Ama Darav, moms, supportive boyfriends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2018-10-24 12:47:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 11,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10742004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/openended/pseuds/openended
Summary: A land for Victoria/Liam/Jaal prompt fills. Chapters are not in chronological order, but are completely self-contained.Latest update: battlefield wounds, and the full bullpenHighlights include: Jaal accidentally getting stoned on painkillers, a happy and sated threesome,Tempestobstacle courses, meeting the parents, Tori sliding across the ship in fluffy socks(chapter two is the only explicit chapter; ratings and pairings are in the chapter titles)





	1. distracting kisses (pg; victoria/jaal, +liam)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaal gets shot, takes human painkillers, comedy and kisses ensue. 
> 
> Prompt: Kisses meant to distract the other from what they were intently doing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [also on tumblr](http://dearophelia.tumblr.com/post/159999528497/19-for-toriliamjaal)

Victoria laughs as Jaal nuzzles her neck. “Come on, _seriously_ ,” she says, trying to pull away. “I need to look at your arm.” She’s been trying for the last ten minutes. Her quick, cursory scan in the back of the Nomad only told her that the bullet hadn’t hit anything important. Which, she supposes, was good intel to have before realizing that the raging blizzard meant that extraction to the _Tempest_ was impossible, but it also didn’t tell her anything else - like if, even though it didn’t hit anything important, the bullet needs to come out now or can wait until the storm clears.

Jaal looks at her with something endearingly close to a pout. And then kisses her.

_SAM, note to self: angara plus human painkillers equals stoned and very affectionate Jaal._

_Noted, Pathfinder. Shall I inform Dr. T'Perro?_

She breaks the kiss and, when Jaal’s pout deepens, she lifts up on her knees and presses a gentle kiss to his forehead. “No more hydrocodone for you,” she says. Lexi ran about two hundred tests to make sure it was safe, but not one of them was an actual reaction test. 

_Yes. Please inform our dear doctor that she failed to include a practical application test of the drug, and now my angaran boyfriend is insisting that I wear him like a blanket._

_Are those the exact words you wish to convey in your message?_

“Darling,” he whispers, looping his arms around her waist. He pulls her close, and if there was anything more to come after _darling_ , it’s lost when he buries his face in her hair.

_Yes. Exact words. “Wearing him like a blanket”._

“Liam!” she calls, laughing. He’s setting up a perimeter to alert them if any local wildlife has the same idea they did and decides to use the cave as shelter, and she hopes he’s not out of earshot. Jaal’s hugging her tight enough that her arms - and thus omnitool - are trapped, and she really doesn’t want to have SAM make the _our boyfriend is stoned out of his mind and won’t stop kissing me so I can examine the bullet wound in his arm_ call if she can avoid it.

Luckily, Liam’s on his way back, perimeter alarms set. “What’s up?” he says as he turns into the cave, and doubles over in laughter when he sees his partners. 

Jaal’s actually _petting_ her hair. 

“Please help,” she pleads, smiling. “I need to check and bandage his arm, and I,” she flails with her wrists as much as she can with Jaal’s arms holding her tight.

Standing back up, Liam coughs out the end of his laughter and sniffs. “I don’t know what I could possibly do, except maybe take a vid.”

“Don’t you dare,” she threatens, a threat that immediately ceases to have any force as Jaal slowly kisses his way down from her ear to her shoulder, pausing to suck in several places that make her breath catch in her throat. “Just…give him someone else to kiss for, like, ten minutes? Maybe fifteen if the bullet’s really in there.”

Liam bites his lip, trying to hold back a smile. He keeps back the smile, but his eyebrow quirks up in amusement.

She scrunches up her nose and sticks her tongue out at him. It wasn't even that dirty; they've just not slept in a very long time.

“Mmm,” Jaal murmurs, “you could be doing far more interesting things with that tongue.”

Victoria purses her lips together and stares up at Liam. “I’m not gonna get any help from you, am I?”

He shakes his head. “As much as I enjoy being kissed by Jaal, you are on your own here.”

With an exasperated sigh, Victoria rolls her eyes upward. “Even after I helped you with Verand?”

“Totally different circumstances. And I need to make dinner.”  


“Ration packets are not difficult to heat up.” She bites her lip as Jaal finds a particularly sensitive spot behind her ear.  


Grinning, Liam pulls three packets out of the crate. “Well, you two aren’t going to help.”

_Pathfinder, may I remind you that you were the one to suggest this triad._

_…shut up._

She manages to extract herself from Jaal just enough that she can pull away and grab her medical bag. He immediately loops his arm back around her shoulders - his injured arm, and those painkillers must be working _wonders_ for him to be able to move like that without any hint of pain - and draws her closer.

“Okay,” she says, a plan starting to form, “okay. You,” she points at Liam, “make dinner. And you,” she looks at Jaal, “sit still while I make sure your arm is okay. And then when the dinner is made and the arm has been fixed, we can return to the hugging and the kissing and the grinning at vague innuendo. Thoughts?”

“Works for me,” Liam says, starting to pull their ration packets together beside the fire. 

Jaal just hugs her tighter, and gently lifts her to sit on his lap.

After a moment of staring out into the cave and blinking - and ignoring Liam laughing his ass off as he puts dinner together - she sighs and turns around to face Jaal. She hooks her legs around his hips, “I can make this work. But I need ten minutes of no kissing so I can fix your arm, and then you have the rest of the night.”

“My arm feels fine,” he says, and steals a kiss.

“Because you are high as shit on some painkillers we probably shouldn’t have given you.” She removes the torn armor plating and then puts on a pair of gloves and sends her scanner program to her visor. “Sit still.”

“Uh oh,” Liam says, “there’s the Doctor voice.”

Victoria flips him off. He’s not wrong, but the tone of Uh Oh You’re In Trouble Now deserved to be flipped off. 

“I can kiss you afterward?” Jaal asks, voice full of hopeful innocence.

She nods. “You can kiss me afterward. Promise.” She presses the edges of the wound and starts to formulate a plan to extract the bullet.

“What about me?” Liam asks from beside the fire.

“I will kiss you, too, ” Jaal promises. 

Victoria shakes her head as she works. She loves these two idiots, so much.


	2. routine kisses (e; victoria/liam/jaal)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sex, basically. And probably not at all what the prompt meant, but where my brain ended up going.
> 
> Prompt: Routine kisses where the other person presents their cheek/forehead for the hello/goodbye kiss without even looking up from what they’re doing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [also on tumblr](http://dearophelia.tumblr.com/post/160535595752/if-youre-still-looking-for-kiss-prompts-7-or-19)

Victoria gasps and throws her arm back over her head, grasping at Liam’s thigh. Her other hand tangles in the sheets below her, twisting the fabric in her grip. She squirms against the bed, trying to spread her legs even wider for Jaal. 

Liam slides his hands across her shoulders, and over her collarbone, and down to her breasts. He flicks his thumbs over her hard nipples, eliciting a breathy moan. Arching her back, she presses her breasts into his palms. He smiles and gently tweaks a nipple - he’s more than happy to oblige.

He watches in fascination as she undulates against their touch - his hands on her breasts, Jaal’s tongue between her legs. Victoria’s body is an incredible thing - taught and toned and smooth. She doesn’t hold back during sex, letting herself move as her body desires, always touching them as much as their positions allow. Between her and Jaal, they’re the most expressive, intense lovers he’s ever had, and sometimes Liam feels like he can’t keep up.

A moan catches in her throat as Jaal easily slides a finger inside of her. She took both of them earlier, at the same time, and there’s hardly a part of her that isn’t slippery with their combined wetness, lube, sweat, or all three. She draws her knees back and shifts her hips, providing Jaal with a deeper, better angle. He doesn’t change his pace, slowly fucking her with his finger while he lazily sucks at her clit.

“Fuck,” she groans.

Her fingernails scratch at his thigh, and Liam bends over, capturing her lips with his. She eagerly kisses him in return, slipping her tongue past his lips. He breaks the kiss, wanting to hear her moans, and she tilts her head back. With a grin, he presses a gentle kiss to her forehead, and she smiles. And then Jaal twists his finger and her mouth falls open in a gasp.

Shimmering with sweat, and with tendrils of hair stuck to her forehead, she’s a radiant mess, and Liam looks down at her in utter adoration. With her eyes closed, she presses herself against Jaal’s mouth, whimpering for more. She hooks her legs around Jaal’s shoulders, trying to pull him closer.

Jaal looks up, not breaking his rhythm, and catches Liam’s eye. He smiles at him and slowly drags his tongue up the length of her cunt.

He’s utterly spent, and yet Liam still feels the stirrings of desire start to build again. All three of them are wrecked - Victoria most of all, and soft little moans fall from her lips, heralding her oncoming orgasm - but it’s a pleasant, warm, lazy sort of desire. He’s content to leave it there, let it settle in the base of his cock and rise no further.

“Fuck,” she gasps, breath panting. “Jaal, _please_ ,” she begs, fingers gripping Liam’s thigh. She brings her other hand up off the bed to caress the top of Jaal’s head.

Jaal _does_ , and her back arches and she comes with a cry that makes Liam wonder if the _Tempest_ architects took soundproofing into consideration.

Little noises of pleasure escape her lips as the orgasm rolls through her. She drops both hands back down to the bed, gripping and twisting the sheets as Jaal pushes as much pleasure into her as he can. She cries out, not quite a scream and not quite a moan, and it catches in her throat. She freezes – holding utterly still as her orgasm becomes too much.

“Enough,” she whimpers, dropping back down to the bed. She presses her toes against Jaal’s shoulder and lightly pushes him back, away from her. “Holy fuck,” she breathes. And then she starts to laugh – she’s always a little giggly after sex. She blinks, finally opening her eyes, and smiles up at Liam.

He smiles down at her and kisses her cheek, lightly grasping her hand with his. He twines their fingers together and gives her a gentle squeeze. She slides against the bed - and Jaal, as he slowly, reverently, kisses his way up her body - and squeezes his hand in return.

Jaal kisses her smile and she sighs happily into him, letting go of Liam’s hand so she can circle her arms around Jaal’s shoulders. Still a little out of breath, Victoria breaks the kiss, and tilts her head just a little bit forward.

Smiling, Jaal kisses her forehead. He lets his lips linger for a moment before he slides off of her.

“Darling ones,” he whispers, pressing his forehead against Liam’s. He then lies down, stretching out beside her.

Liam does the same, trailing his fingers over Victoria’s waist. He occasionally brushes against Jaal’s fingers as they both draw designs across her skin. He lightly clasps his boyfriend’s hand, and they settle gently atop their girlfriend’s stomach.

After a few minutes, Victoria shifts. She wrinkles her nose. “Okay, we need to change these sheets. And probably shower.”

Liam kisses her shoulder. “Can you even walk right now?”

Victoria thinks about that, and then laughs, shaking her head. “Probably not. Give me ten minutes, maybe.” She pauses, and blinks. “Possibly twenty.”

Jaal smiles, and nestles his head against her shoulder. She drops a soft kiss against his temple and curls her arm around his shoulder. Liam shifts a little so that he’s holding her, and stretches out his fingers to brush against Jaal’s shoulder. They're all a sweaty mess - a rapidly-cooling sweaty mess, and he tugs a sheet over them - but he's perfectly content to lie here for ten minutes, maybe, possibly twenty.


	3. shoulder squeezes (g; victoria/liam/jaal)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A moment of support while rescuing the Moshae.
> 
> Prompt: shoulder squeezes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [also on tumblr](http://dearophelia.tumblr.com/post/160604794437/4-for-victorialiamjaal-please-and-thank-you-d)

He’s known them for six weeks. Six weeks of traipsing across Havarl and Voeld, of listening to Liam’s puns (of not understanding Liam’s puns, save for Ryder’s exasperated groan - somehow ubiquitous even across galaxies and centuries and species for _stop this_ ), of counting up dead kett at the end of the day (loser buys beer; he owes three drinks, Liam seven, Ryder the rest). 

Six weeks of Ryder patching up the day’s scrapes and bruises, of hearing compelling arguments about whether Han or Greedo shot first (of three weeks of having no context for this argument, before Liam sent him the sixteen Star Wars films; he’s made it through four), of looking up at the stars at night while Liam tries to name them (Gonzo, Kermit, Fozzie, and on - until Ryder stared at him with a quirked eyebrow and asked if he was naming stars after something called _Muppets_ ; their combined laughter was too beautiful for Jaal to tell them the stars already had names, and _Gonzo_ was not one of them).

Six weeks, and he thinks of them as _friends_. He thinks - hopes - they would call him the same.

And yet, as Jaal falls to his knees and bangs helplessly, _desperately_ , upon the thick glass, their hands on his shoulders are unexpected.

Even more unexpected is the gentle, supportive squeeze they both give.

He forces himself to watch, unblinking, as the angara are…disappeared.

Twin waves of grief and horror twist around each other and rise up inside of him. He closes his eyes and falls forward, resting his head against the glass, fully anticipating their hands to fall away. 

Most unexpected of all is that neither of them let go. 

Armor creaks beside him, and he opens his eyes. Ryder’s crouching next to him, her hand still a comforting weight on his shoulder.

“We’re gonna fuck this place up,” she whispers tightly. “I promise.”

He nods. If he has learned one thing about her in the past six weeks, it’s that Ryder keeps her promises. “Thank you,” he says.

She smiles, and though it is soft and small, it is easily the brightest thing he’s seen since entering this base of horrors. Bright, and very welcome.

“You okay, or do you need a minute?” Liam asks.

Jaal looks up at Liam and then beside him at Ryder. _Okay_ is the farthest from what he is feeling, but he will not sit here and wallow, not even for a minute, not while more angara are in danger. There will be time enough for grief later. He stands. “Let’s go.”

Nodding, Liam squeezes his shoulder once more before dropping his hand back down to his gun. Ryder stands, touches her hand lightly to Jaal’s arm, and then cocks her head.

“SAM, do you have the Moshae’s location yet?”

“I believe so. Updating your navpoint.”

Ryder gestures for Jaal to take point. He unholsters his rifle, nods, and leads the way out the door.


	4. piggyback rides (g; victoria/jaal, + liam, feat. whole crew)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The _Tempest_ obstacle course; or, things we probably shouldn't be doing.
> 
> prompt: piggyback rides

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have taken some liberties regarding ladder locations; I did this from memory.
> 
>  
> 
> [also on tumblr](http://dearophelia.tumblr.com/post/160641327922/6-for-victorialiamjaal-if-you-still-want)

Ryder’s high-pitched squeal pulls Jaal’s attention away from his tinkering. Curious, he steps out of the tech lab, only to nearly collide with Drack and…Ryder? Held on his back as he runs three times around the research console, and into the cockpit? Jaal watches, equal parts confused and fascinated.

With perhaps a tinge of concern. These are the people he trusts to watch his back in a firefight.

“I’m going to catch you, old man!” Liam cries as he exits the cargo bay, Peebee on his back.

“Doesn’t look like it!” Drack calls, his heavy footsteps echoing over the glass walkway. The cockpit doors hiss open, and then closed, and open again. Drack comes back out while Liam’s in his second lap of the center console. He’s strolling now, with Ryder grinning wide and triumphantly holding a scrap of green fabric over her head.

Liam groans and releases his hold on Peebee’s legs, letting her step down to the floor. “Damn,” he says.

Drack and Ryder do a slow lap around the room, high-fiving their crew mates.

“You tried,” Peebee says, a half-hearted attempt at consolation. “Dibs on Vetra next time, she’s speedy.” She twirls a bit and leans against the console, next to Vetra. She winks at the turian.

“Ouch,” Liam says, clasping his hand over his chest. “Harsh.”

She shrugs. “You lost this on the _ladders_. To _Drack_.”

“All hail the undefeated champions of the _Tempest_ obstacle course!” Ryder shouts at the end of their victory lap, raising both arms up in triumph.

“You’ve done this _twice_ ,” Lexi says.

Jaal’s new to the _Tempest_ , only been on board a week and a half, and his fellow crew often need to explain their tone or sarcasm or jokes. But Lexi’s disapproval is as clear as the waterfalls on Aya.

Drack shrugs. “Still won both times, didn’t we?”

Lexi just shakes her head, and mutters to herself under her breath.

Ryder hops down, a wide smile on her face, and drapes the green fabric in a haphazard sash over Drack’s armor. He slings his thick, armored arm around her shoulders and she stumbles a bit under the sudden weight, but stands straight, grinning.

She catches sight of Jaal watching, and gives him a little wave.

***

There’s a crown to consider now. Made of a dull metal amalgam with mismatched gemstones (and several pieces of what Jaal thinks might accidentally be bone) around the tips, the crown is _hideous_. But it is a crown nonetheless, and ever since Suvi and Vetra finally defeated Ryder and Drack several months ago, the crown has passed from team to team. And it is up for grabs again tomorrow.

Ryder plops back down on the bed, tucks her bare legs under her, and turns on the holoprojector. Kallo’s plans for the new obstacle course flicker into the air. The lights dim, and the windows darken, letting the map glow bright blue.

Three teams of three this time. They’re allowed to switch configurations as often as they want, but one member must be on the back of another at all times. The rest of the rules are the same as always: no intentional physical contact with other teams, and don’t break the ship.

(Other, rather specific rules have surfaced over the past months, for participants and course-makers alike: leave the pyjak alone, walls are not floors, access hatches and crawlspaces are not valid means of avoiding the laser grid section, the floor is not allowed to actually _be_ lava.

Jaal’s favorite is “no use of biotics to adjust local gravity,” which turned, after the very next race, into “no adjusting local gravity by any means at all.”

But by and large, the basic rules are enough.)

“Okay,” Ryder says, pushing her hair out of her eyes. She zooms in on the cargo bay. It’s a mess of ropes and rickety makeshift bridges, with no clear route from the armory up to the second floor doorway.

Jaal tries to trace a path with his finger, but winds up in a dead end inside the Nomad within six steps.

“This the configuration he’s using?” Liam asks.

Ryder takes a swig of her beer. “Hope so.” She squints at the hologram. “I take that back. I hope _not_.” Her lips twist into a frown and her nose scrunches up.

The Concentration Face, Peebee calls it. The expression looks absurd on her, but Jaal’s never seen it fail. Ryder’s eyes shift slightly right, and she tilts her head.

“I have an idea.”

***

Jaal adjusts his arms, settling Ryder more steadily against his back, and twists his body. The motion is enough to change their direction, and his feet hit just above the galley doors, sending them back down the hallway. As they pass the center point, Ryder reaches up and grabs one of the medallions off the underside of the walkway. The door to the cargo bay opens, and Vetra and Peebee fly out in a barely-controlled spin. Ryder shifts her weight, rolling them out of the way of the other team. She shifts back, straightening them, and Jaal takes them through the door and into the cargo bay for the last challenge.

Despite the gravity change, the boxes and gear forming the walls of the maze have remained mostly in place. They’re through the first third of it when the air starts to buzz.

The only warning they get is SAM - _Ryder, Jaal; Gil has regained access to the artificial gravity controls_ \- and a brief alarm over the shipwide intercom, and then they fall a foot and a half onto the deck. Jaal takes the full brunt of it, and grunts.

“You okay?” Ryder asks, and he can _hear_ the shift in her voice from Obstacle Course Combatant to Doctor. She sits up, straddling his hips, taking her weight off his back and chest.

“Yes,” he says, pressing his palms to the floor and shifting his weight to bring his knees under him. “Hold on.” She may have switched - however briefly - out of Obstacle Course Combatant, but he has not. He hears Vetra and Peebee arguing about which way to go at the beginning of the maze.

Ryder hooks her legs on his hips and grasps his shoulders, and he carefully stands to his feet. While he would consider a sudden influx of gravity a good excuse for breaking the _one player must always be giving a piggy-back ride to another_ rule, he doubts their opponents would see it as such. 

Especially since Ryder took a rather literal interpretation of the concept of _local gravity_  by disabling it for the entire ship.

The maze only stymies him once - and Ryder straightens and sits up tall, peering over the top of the obstacles to direct him out of the corner - and then they’re out and at the ladders.

“They should’ve left the gravity off for this,” Ryder mutters as she flattens herself against Jaal’s back and he begins to climb.

Jaal allows himself a glance to the side as he reaches the top. Vetra’s about halfway up the ladder with Peebee; she’s starting to slow, but not enough to make their lead comfortable. He tightens his arms around Ryder’s legs and runs.

Through the cargo bay upper balcony - past Drack and Cora still trying to navigate the ropes obstacle, somehow having _more_ trouble now that gravity’s back, and Suvi shouting encouragement from the side, though there no chance for them to even come in second now - and to the upper level door, where Liam’s waiting. Jaal turns, and Ryder climbs off of him and onto Liam. As soon as he has a solid grip on her legs, Liam takes off at a dead run down the length of the ship, Gil and Peebee at his heels. The cargo bay door closes, shutting off Jaal's view of the end of the race.

Not five seconds later, Kallo comes over the intercom. “We have a winner!”

The door opens again, and Jaal steps forward and leans against the wall, trying to calm his breath. He waits anxiously for the cockpit door to open, with Vetra doing the same beside him.

The cockpit door whooshes open, and Jaal grins wide. Liam steps out, Ryder on his shoulders now, the ugly crown perched crooked atop her head.

***

Infoboard Message #304  
Subject: Gravity

 _Gravity aboard the_ Tempest _is to remain at 1G (9.807 m/s 2) at all times. Peebee’s escape pod is the only exception_. {Cora}

 _You’re just mad because you couldn’t figure out a ropes course._ {Liam}

 _I have read the Initiative handbook, and there is no such rule._ {Jaal}

[attached: AIHandbookLatestUpdateCH.pdf] {Cora}

 _If you’re allowed to make up Initiative-wide rules just because you lost a race, then I’m allowed to charge the fiend._  {Ryder}

 _No._  {Liam}

 _No._ {Jaal}


	5. hugs (g; victoria/liam/jaal)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> basically: I had a thought about how absolutely touch-starved Jaal must be on the _Tempest_ , and then fic ensued.
> 
> prompt: hugs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [also on tumblr](http://dearophelia.tumblr.com/post/160714328452/2-hugs-for-victorialiamjaal)

  **I.**

There’s a little wobble, an uncertainty, an instability. It itches at him at night, and the hours he spends alone in the tech lab. Something’s wrong, and he can’t name what; he thinks it’s only nerves, a new environment, being around _aliens_.

But then Ryder squeezes Cora’s shoulder as they stand in the wreckage of a ship, a transponder blinking sadly in Cora’s hands, and he realizes what it is.

Jaal hasn’t been _touched_ since he came on board.

**II.**

His mother asks, among other things, if they are kind.

They are. The crew of the _Tempest_ is kind and supportive, they are funny and happy, they are ridiculous and loving. He’s not certain he’s ever felt _loved_ by a team before. Liked and respected, yes, but _loved_? No.

Jaal tells her this. He tells her of the crew – of Peebee’s enthusiasm and Vetra’s resourcefulness, of Drack’s tenacity and Cora’s calm – but especially he tells her of Ryder and Liam, and the pull he feels toward them. He tells her of the look in Ryder’s eyes just before she realizes he’s turned and can see her now, a look of genuine _care_ that makes his heart flutter. And he tells her of the way Liam always gives him a little light smack on the back of his shoulder before a fight, and how he smiles with a stuttery sigh of relief when they meet at the Nomad afterward.

It feels like such a small thing in comparison, and Jaal doesn’t want to dampen her opinion of his friends. But despite the friendship, and despite the love, and though he _is_ happy – he still feels off balance. _I have not been hugged – nor given a hug – since we were last on Aya_ , he writes. Sadness tugs at him as he reads the words; the hugs he received in the Resistance headquarters were of greeting, and not the kind he’s been craving. Sahuna will know this without him saying so, and he sends his message.

 _Do they not hug at all?_ she writes at the end of her lengthy response to his stories. _Or are you concerned it would not be welcome?_

He thinks about all the times he’s seen Ryder give her crew a hug – Vetra, upon finding peanut butter in the galley; Drack, when they won a third obstacle course; Liam, after he told a story about his mother and suddenly had trouble speaking around his unshed tears. Jaal swallows. It is not the former, and though everything he’s seen of them over the past two months says otherwise, a part of him still worries that it’s the latter.

**III.**

He steps out of medbay, leaving Ryder to speak with the Moshae. Exaltation is…horrific. He has no other word for it, and acrid bile burns at the back of his throat as images from the facility race through his mind.

“You alright, mate?” Liam asks as Jaal passes the other man in the research center.

“I…I need some time,” he says. The simple answer is _no_ , but it’s far too complex a thing right now. He needs to just _feel_ for a while, before he tries to put words to it.

Liam reaches out and, in a mirror of his movements in the base, rests his hand lightly on Jaal’s shoulder. “If you need to talk.”

Jaal nods. “When I know what words to say.”

With a soft smile, Liam slides his hand down Jaal’s shoulder, to his arm, to his hand. He squeezes lightly, and then lets go. “You got it.”

He leaves Liam to his research and enters the cool, quiet sanctuary of the tech lab. Nothing captures his attention, and his arm nearly tingles with the memory of Liam’s touch – tingles with the need for _more_. He’s on the verge of walking back out and _asking_ when the quiet door chime dings.

“Come in,” he says, the hoarseness of his own voice surprising. He clears his throat.

Ryder steps in far enough that the door closes behind her. And then steps closer, until she’s only a foot away from him. She’s let her hair down, and she looks up at him through wispy pieces of bright orange. She blinks, and tilts her head, like she’s unsure of her words. It’s an odd, disconcerting expression on her.

Jaal can’t stand it any longer – between the constant knot of imbalance in his stomach to the discovery of Exaltation, it’s all just much too much – and he reaches out and draws her to him. He wraps his arms around her slender frame, nearly engulfing her as he holds her close. Hugging or being hugged, he’s so desperate that it doesn’t matter.

She sighs quietly and leans into him, bringing her own arms up around his waist, holding him as tightly as he’s holding her.

Tears spring to his eyes. Too much time has passed, and her touch is overwhelming and not enough all at once. He rests his cheek atop her head and tightens his embrace, flattening his palms over her back. Her hair is soft and strange, and smells good. Like flowers and fresh rain, like comfort.

“Thank you,” he whispers after a long while. He doesn’t move to part from her, but she doesn’t move either.

“Any time,” she says, and there’s so much soft conviction in her voice that he knows she means it.

**IV.**

Victoria is small and warm and soft in his arms, and Liam is strong and warm and solid at his back. They’re both long asleep, and Jaal’s as tired – even more so – as he was when they climbed into her bed and curled around each other an hour ago; they feel so _good_ around him, he hardly wants to waste this feeling by sleeping through it. He presses a kiss to her shoulder, letting his lips linger on her skin, and squeezes Liam’s hand, gently so as not to wake him.

She makes a quiet little noise in her sleep and scoots closer to him, and Liam nuzzles his neck with his cold nose. Jaal smiles, and lets himself start to drift into sleep.

And the unsteady, wobbly part inside of him finds its balance.


	6. leaning on a shoulder (g; victoria/liam, +jaal)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Becoming Pathfinder hasn’t been great for Victoria’s anxiety and panic. Somehow, she’s managed to keep this from her boyfriends for a good long while. Until she can’t.
> 
> prompt: Leaning on a shoulder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [also on tumblr](http://dearophelia.tumblr.com/post/160748677117/12-for-victorialiamjaal)

Boots crunch on the sand beside her, and someone sits down in the small shade of the Nomad. He tosses a rock away, and she cracks one eye open.

Liam.

She closes her eye again, rests her forehead in her hands, and concentrates on her breathing. _Good air in, bad air out_ , something the owner of her favorite bakery said to her once, when she came in for a fifth evening in a row to buy herself a Made It Through A Crap Day cupcake. _Good air in, bad air out_. The meds should kick in soon.

It wasn’t even anything specific. Just one too many fights, one too many kett that got too close, not enough sleep, three emails from Tann, a reminder from Lexi that she’s working too hard and not eating enough, SAM pointing out a mining zone just as she drove past it. All of it would be fine on its own, but _together_ \- she felt it rising in that last fight, a wave of adrenaline unrelated to gunfire surging up inside of her, bringing with it an all-consuming urge to just _panic_. She’d tried to channel it into the fight, maybe blow off the steam by shooting a couple kett in the face, but it hit too fast too strong. At least she was able hold it at bay until afterward.

Liam puts his hand on her knee. “You okay?”

Victoria sits up a little, leans against the Nomad’s wheel, and takes a long sip from her water bottle. The water’s crisp and cold, refreshing and centering as it slides down her throat. A soft blanket of calm starts to settle over her, starting in her chest, slowing her heart and her breathing, and gradually spreading outward. She can almost feel the medication transported through her veins. _Much better_.

“Yeah,” she says quietly, though she isn’t totally there quite just yet. “Thanks.” She takes another drink.

“That happen often?”

She turns to look at him. She thought she hid it well, but - of course he knows the signs of a panic attack. Crisis response isn’t lacking in panic. His voice is gentle, concerned not accusatory, and she shrugs. “First one on the field,” she admits. “And it’s happening less elsewhere now that Cora’s taken over most of the bullshit.”

But _happening less now_ implies _happening a lot before_ , and Liam’s smart enough to know that.

He squints at her and then moves his hand from her knee, settling his arm around her shoulder. He tugs her close, his armor clanking against hers, and presses a kiss to the top of her head. “Why didn’t you tell us?” Still gentle and concerned, and she wonders how he does it. From almost anyone else, the question would sound mad, maybe even hurt. But he just sounds worried.

Victoria shrugs. “Hi, I’m the Pathfinder, and I’m having daily panic attacks because the fate of the entire Initiative has landed on my wildly unqualified shoulders, and I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.” She gives him a wide, fake smile, and then rests her head on his shoulder. His armor isn’t that comfortable to lean against, but it’s nice sitting here with him.

Liam smooths out her hair. “Lexi give you meds?”

She nods and tugs his arm a little tighter around her. “Right thigh compartment,” she says, patting it. “Also nightstand drawer.” She’s only had a few attacks here that were so overwhelming she couldn’t even process _you have pills for this and should take some_. Luckily, SAM spoke up, but SAM can’t hug, SAM can’t hold, and her father certainly didn’t program SAM to talk anyone down from a panic attack. She got her meds okay, but it was a rocky rest of the evening. Having another person - a boyfriend who hugs, who holds, who might have a clue how to talk her down from a panic attack - know where to find her meds would be nice, if ever things started to get totally out of hand.

Well. Ideally things wouldn’t get totally out of hand, and ideally she wouldn’t need any help at all - pharmaceutical, artificially intelligent, or otherwise. But after thirty-odd years, she’s learned her mind well enough to accept that, as badly as she wants it, _ideally_ simply isn’t going to happen.

“Got it,” he says. He links their fingers together and gives her hand a little squeeze. “Let us know if we can do anything?”

She wants to make him promises. Wants to tell him _of course, absolutely_ , wants to tell him that she’ll always say something, always ask for help. But her mind can be cruel to her sometimes, cruelest of all when she needs help. The best she can give him is, “I’ll try.”

He seems to accept that, and leans his head against hers.

Her hardsuit scrapes on the rocky sand as she scoots a little closer to him. His armored shoulder may not be the most comfortable to lean against, but he sure is solid. Stable. Calm. He tightens his arm in a sideways hug.

“Where’s Jaal?” she asks after a while, finally calmed enough to notice that he’s missing.

“Went off to scout ahead,” Liam says. “Figured both of us would be too much.”

“And you lost the coin toss?” she grins.

He shakes his head. “No,” he says softly, brushing his fingers down her arm, though neither of them can feel it.

The terrible joke dies right there on Victoria’s tongue. That single syllable contains so much care and concern, more than should be allowed for a word with only two letters. He presses a kiss to her temple, and whispers so softly she thinks he doesn’t mean to say the words out loud at all, _we would never toss a coin about you_.

Victoria blinks. They’ve been together a few weeks now, after months of dancing around it, and Liam and Jaal both never stop surprising her with how strong, how intense, how _everything_  they feel for her. It’s a little overwhelming, but the good kind. Not the kind that threw her into a panic attack mid-charge.

“Probably best not to learn Care And Feeding Of Your Human Girlfriend in the field on the fly, huh?” she says.

Liam smiles. “Something like that.” He shifts a little and fusses with an armor pocket. “Speaking of,” he hands her a protein bar.

She opens the packaging without looking at it and takes a bite. “This is disgusting,” she says, around a mouthful of somehow _both_ chewy _and_ dry snack, but she chews and swallows anyway. The doctor in her knows that she needs to eat something, even if her tastebuds are screaming in horror. She looks at the wrapper: banana chocolate oatmeal. It tastes remotely like none of those things.

“Take it up with requisitions,” he says.

“I will,” she says, and takes another bite. “What’s the point of being Pathfinder if I can’t even get the good protein bars?”

Liam laughs. “No point at all.”

They sit in silence while she finishes the rest of the bar, and washes it all down with half a bottle of water. She spies Jaal climbing over a nearby hill, his silhouette nearly glowing in the setting sun. His rofjinn is an even brighter blue for the red rocks behind him.

“You good?” Liam asks her as Jaal walks toward them.

“Yeah,” she says, because she is now. “I’m good.”


	7. can't take it anymore kisses (liam/jaal)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's kind of adorable how much Liam loves movies.
> 
> Prompt: a kiss because I have literally been watching you all night and I can’t take it anymore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [also on tumblr](http://dearophelia.tumblr.com/post/161031698847/15-for-jaal-and-liam-or-liam-and-victoria-i)

After six hours, they’re only halfway through the first film. It’s a trilogy, something called elcor _Lord of the Rings._ Jaal’s given to understand that, similar to elcor _Hamlet_ , the remake attracts a bit of an odd following outside of the elcor themselves. He’s never read the source material, nor seen the original films, and his only grasp on the plot is what Liam’s filled in for him during the lengthy travel montage scenes, but still - it’s strangely fascinating.

An entire species whose communication with others is based on explicitly stating emotions. He hopes there are elcor on the next ark; he’d very much like to meet one. He brushes his fingers down Liam’s arm - _adoringly: I love you_.

More fascinating than the film itself is Liam’s reaction to it. Unsatisfied with simply _watching_ , he points out differences from the original films, differences from the original novels, and has unending stories from the film’s production.

_“With great determination and strength: you shall not pass.”_

“That’s a _great_ scene in the original,” Liam says. He sits up straight and holds his arms up out and wide. “You! Shall not! Pass!” he shouts in a deep whisper, and then mimes slamming a staff downward.

While the rest of the crew seems content to passively watch a movie, Liam interacts with it. Jaal finds it endearing - and very angara, although different in execution.

Victoria sighs and stretches out her legs, digging her bare feet underneath the covers, still unmade from this morning. She’s been sound asleep with her head in Liam’s lap since the hobbits left the Shire.

Liam gently twirls a finger through the waves of her bright hair and leans back, settling again against Jaal’s chest. Jaal nuzzles the side of Liam’s neck, brushing little kisses upon his love’s skin. _Happily, and with great joy: my life is better for having met you_. The film is interesting, but Liam even more so.

The hobbits fall in their grief and Liam twists, careful not to disturb Victoria, and offers Jaal an apologetic grimace. “This goes on for -”

But the rest of his sentence falls away into silence as Jaal kisses him.

Jaal turns one kiss into many, and slips his tongue past Liam’s lips. _With more love than I can count: you are my universe._


	8. kids, sort of (g; victoria/liam/jaal)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are other, more pressing, concerns at the forefront, so they've not had this discussion. But it doesn't mean he hasn't thought about it.
> 
> Prompt, from Riana1 (who I can't gift an individual chapter to, unfortunately, but thank you so much for the prompt!): Victoria with a squishy baby angara on her hip. Both Jaal and Liam want kids and domestic fluff is so cute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [also on tumblr](http://dearophelia.tumblr.com/post/161075819017/riana-one-at-least-i-assume-thats-you-on)

A loud, bone-shaking clap of thunder startles Liam awake. He blinks in the darkness of Jaal's bedroom and looks out the window. Lightning flashes as the storm pours down outside. The roof overhang protects them from most of the rain, but the wind is strong enough that little droplets blow in.

He takes a breath of the cool air. Strange. It almost smells like Earth. Almost - there's a hint of Havarl's flowers on the air.

Liam shifts, stretching his legs out, and digs a little further under the blankets. Jaal nuzzles his neck and tightens his arm tightens his waist. Sleep still drifts around the edges of Liam's vision and he smiles, covering Jaal's hand with his. When he reaches out with his other hand, he finds nothing but air.

He rubs his eyes, trying to turn the crumpled blankets beside him into their girlfriend. No matter how hard he tries, Victoria is not lying in bed with them.

"Hey," Liam says, gently nudging Jaal. "Where's Tori?"

Jaal takes a long, slow breath, and pushes himself up just enough to look over Liam's shoulder. "That it is an excellent question."

Liam sits up and blinks away the last bits of sleep. He scrubs his hand over his face.

Jaal reaches out to turn on the lamp, but nothing happens. "Hm," he says, "the power's out."

As if on cue, bright lightning flashes, almost instantly followed by a deafening crash of thunder.

"Nice planet you've got," Liam grimaces as little echoing booms roll through the mountains.

Jaal smiles and sits up beside him. If he noticed Liam's sarcasm, he ignores it. "It is beautiful, isn't it?"

Leaning over, Liam kisses Jaal's unscarred cheek. "It is." Aside from the wicked thunderstorms, at least. He looks down at the empty space next to him. "Should we go find her?" Victoria is terrible with maps and navigation, but not so terrible that she'd get lost inside a house, even one so big as Jaal's family home.

"Probably." Jaal slides out of bed and offers his hand to Liam.

Liam lets Jaal tug him out of bed. It's a little cooler without the blankets and the warmth of Jaal's body, but finding his shirt in a dark room is more work than he wants right now. The pants he's wearing are enough. Jaal seems to decide the same, and they slip out of his bedroom.

Finding Victoria isn't hard, even without any lights. She's in the kitchen, beside the window.

Liam stops just inside the kitchen and holds his hand out against Jaal's stomach, keeping him from walking forward. Smiling, he tilts his head at Victoria. 

She turns, bouncing the small angaran girl a little higher on her hip. Thunder rumbles, shaking the glasses Jaal's cousins left out on the counter, and the girl squeaks and buries her head in Victoria's shoulder. Victoria presses a kiss to her forehead and gently sways back and forth.

Liam looks at Jaal and smiles at the way Jaal's watching her - soft, starry-eyed, it's an expression that warms the very air around them. He's sure there's a similar look on his own face. Something inside of him melts at the sight of Victoria holding a child.

Victoria turns, and a smile grows across her face as she sees the two of them. She walks over to them and whispers something to the girl, who lifts her head despite the thunder.

"Hi Flora," Jaal says, gently settling his palm on Flora's back.

She smiles wide, revealing a missing tooth. "Hi Jaal!"

"I got up for a glass of water," Victoria explains. "Flora found me, wanted a hug."

Liam doesn't blame her. He doesn't love thunderstorms, and this is the strongest, brightest, loudest one he's ever experienced. Victoria's hugs have magic properties, he swears.

"It's loud," Flora says, resting her head on Victoria's shoulder again.

Rain pounds on the roof, and Liam leans in to press a kiss to the top of Victoria's head. There are other, more pressing, concerns at the forefront now to have the future discussion, let alone the kids discussion. But that doesn't mean he can't think about it.

"Oh, there you are," a relieved-looking Finn rushes into the kitchen.

Victoria grins at him. "Found something of yours." She shifts Flora to her father's arms.

"Thank you," he says, taking his daughter.  

Flora yawns. "Tori gives good hugs."

She boops the girl's nose. "You can have one whenever you want. Sweet dreams."

Flora sleepily waves at them as Finn carries her back to her bed.

Victoria looks at Liam, and then at Jaal. She tilts her head. "You guys are looking at me funny."

The storm rages outside as they stand in silence for a moment, staring at her.

"Seriously. What is it?" She pats her head, as if it's her hair that's causing them to look at her like she's the sun.

Jaal cups her cheek and tilts her head up. "You are marvelous," he whispers, brushing his thumb across her cheekbone before gently kissing her.

Victoria lifts up a little on her bare toes, leaning into the kiss. "Thank you," she whispers against his lips. She settles her heels back on the floor and pulls away from him to look at Liam.

He smiles at her, his thoughts still half-caught in their potential future.

She crinkles her nose at them both. "You guys are weird," she says lovingly, taking their hands in hers. "Let's go back to bed." 


	9. kisses that shouldn't have happened (pg; victoria/liam)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot going through her mind right now, maybe kissing someone isn't the greatest plan. 
> 
> Note: contains references to a past abusive relationship 
> 
>  
> 
> Prompt: a kiss that shouldn't have happened, for Victoria/Liam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [also on tumblr](http://dearophelia.tumblr.com/post/161109359407/how-about-a-kiss-that-shouldnt-have-happened-for)

Victoria’s drawn to Liam almost as if he has his own gravity. He’s quick with a joke and a smile, and somehow manages to keep her grounded at the same time he lifts her onto a pedestal. She’s the Pathfinder with him, yeah, but she’s also Ryder - and sometimes, when they’re on the ship and she’s messing with the research station and he’s patiently waiting his turn, she’s Tori.

Everyone else strictly calls her Pathfinder, or treats her last name with the same reverence as her title. Everyone else wishes her father were here - and she doubts they realize it, doubts even more that they mean it, but sometimes _You’re not Alec Ryder_ sounds a lot like _I wish you had died on Habitat 7_. Everyone else seems to just _expect_ things of her, like she’s going to instantly succeed at a job she has zero training for.

(Maybe that’s her own expectation _._ She’s probably doing okay, but _okay_ has never been good enough for her _\- okay_ doesn’t save lives _, okay_ doesn’t get everyone out safe.

Until she’s succeeded, she’s failed.)

But Liam - Liam has no expectations. Liam never mentions her father, never has anything other than encouragement. Liam has _hope_ and _faith_ and a smile that knocks her off balance every damn time.

So Victoria isn’t surprised at all when their eyes connect and she feels an almost physical pull toward his lips.

She leans in, just a hair’s breadth away, and stares at his lips, and then looks up at him. His eyes are warm and brown and she’s never seen anyone so clearly say _go for it_ with their eyes before. She kisses him, and it’s like magnetism, the way he kisses her back and tugs her toward him. Suddenly her arms are around him, her fingers trailing along his bare shoulders, and he’s letting down her hair, tangling his fingers in the loose locks as he gently cups the back of her head and urges her closer.

His lips are soft and he tastes of beer and _gods_ but she wants to crawl into him and never ever leave. He slips his tongue against hers and she rises up on her knees, pushing herself against him as her hands slide down his back.

One of Liam’s hands makes its way down to her ass - the other still twined in her hair, he tugs just ever so slightly and a bolt of heat fires right to her core - and he squeezes. She groans and settles into his lap as best she can on the couch, and glides her hands over his strong, defined muscles.

And then - she realizes. Penny helped her through most of her trust issues, and Liam is about as far from Doral as he could possibly get - but she’s kissing Liam without even thinking, without even _knowing him_ , without much more than _he’s the one person who hasn’t wished that I had died_ to bolster him up against that tiny part of her that’s still cowering in a shitty apartment on Omega.

Damn. She thought she was over this.

Victoria breaks the kiss and leans her forehead against his, both of them breathing heavily. “I’m sorry,” she whispers, “I, uhm.” She bites her lip - the problem isn’t simple and she can’t condense it down into something easy to say.

It’s pressure and expectation, it’s an ex-boyfriend and his words and screaming, it’s Tann and Addison and every single person who’s ever wished for her father, it’s Scott in a coma and being functionally _alone_ , it’s that she’s a _doctor_ and she’s doing everything but, it’s a laundry list of old broken bones and the way the healed orbital fracture lit up when he checked her for a concussion - the way Liam looked at her with an expression that said _how in the world did you break your face_.

It’s that Liam is _such_ a good guy and she wants nothing more than to keep kissing him and see where this goes, but she’s terrified _all the time_ in more ways than one.

“I can’t,” is what she says. It comes out a little like a sob.

His lips tenderly brush against her forehead, and he gently untangles his fingers from her hair before pulling her into a hug. “That’s okay,” he says, softly rubbing her back.

She feels like an idiot - kissing a crewmate while having an existential crisis and then almost crying on him. “Thanks,” she sniffles, and rests her head on his shoulder.

“Want to watch a vid?” he asks after a few moments, pulling away just enough that he can look at her. “I’ve got all the Blasto movies.”

Laughing a little, she sits up. “Yeah,” she nods, and wipes a few tears from her cheeks. “I’d like that.”

She slides off of his lap and puts herself back together while he queues up the vid - straightening her shirt, and combing her fingers through her hair. There’s not much to be done about the smudged mascara, but she does what she can with her fingers.

Liam turns the lights off and tentatively settles his arm around her shoulders. She leans into him, resting her head against his shoulder, and he tugs her a little closer. The title flashes and she grins - Blasto 4, her favorite. She mentioned it once, after a firefight on Voeld. Either he guessed and it’s coincidental, or he remembered.

“Shit got real there for a minute,” he says as the movie fades to black, Blasto triumphant as always, and the closing credits start to roll. “We good?”

There’s a waver in his voice that betrays his outward confidence - he really is worried. About her, about them.

She smiles at him in the dim light from the glowing screen. “Yeah,” she says. “I just - I shouldn’t be kissing anyone right now, is all.” She scrunches up her nose, apologetic.

Liam nods. “If that ever changes,” he offers with a crooked grin.

Victoria laughs, and feels her shoulders loosen just a little. “I’ll let you know.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Omega and ex-boyfriend stuff is part of [for savious](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10582371), if you're interested


	10. when you met my parents (g; victoria, jaal)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mom feelings are my downfall in any fandom.
> 
> Prompt: things you said when you met my parents
> 
> Note: contains some pretty massive spoilers for "Ryder Family Secrets"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [also on tumblr](http://dearophelia.tumblr.com/post/161522768537/40-things-you-said-when-you-met-my-parents-for)
> 
> I'm currently on vacation, hence the slow down on posting. I plan to work on my prompt backlog over the next couple of weeks, but there's also a beach that requires some of my attention.

Victoria is short. Sahuna’s known this - Jaal has sent her photos documenting his journey aboard the _Tempest_ , and the photos have long heavily featured both Victoria and Liam - but to see it in person is different. She’d almost call the woman _tiny_. But Victoria hugs fiercely, intently, without reservation, and Sahuna decides that _tiny_ is the last word she’d use to describe her son’s girlfriend. 

She holds on just a little longer than Sahuna expects, and so Sahuna squeezes just a little bit tighter. She’s heard about Victoria’s family from Jaal - with only two parents, both dead, and her sole sibling in a coma, it all sounds so lonely. Victoria takes a shaky breath and Sahuna decides right there that whatever happens between her son and this woman, Victoria is always welcome in her home.

Victoria pulls away and smiles up at her. Bright green eyes and brilliant orange hair, both unheard of amongst angara, she certainly doesn’t _look_ lonely or sad. “It’s nice to meet you,” she says. “Jaal’s told me a lot about you.”

The smile’s audible in her voice, and Sahuna wonders if that’s unique to Victoria, or common to all humans. It’s something she’ll happily have to learn. She returns the smile and gently clasps Victoria’s shoulder. “He’s told me much about you,” she says. For all that Jaal’s written, she feels like she knows Victoria as well as her own child already, though she’s looking forward to learning more. She wants to know everything about anyone who can make her son smile like that, who can make sheer _joy_ radiate through his words.

She tilts her head and then looks at Jaal. “Weren’t there meant to be two of them?”

Jaal nods. “Liam had to meet someone at Pelaav. It took longer than anticipated, and he suggested we go without him. He’ll be here later.” He looks down at Victoria, whose cheeks flush a little pink as she shrugs her shoulders.

“I do a lot of things well,” Victoria tells him. “ _Nothing_ is not one of them.”

He simply smiles down at her and presses a kiss to her forehead. Victoria’s eyes close and she lifts slightly up on her toes, leaning closer to him.

Sahuna’s smile grows as she watches the brief exchange. Though she had no doubts to the contrary, she likes Victoria - quite a bit. She’d be happy - proud, even - to welcome her to the family.

***

Ellen picks at the clinically-white sheets below her. The last week has been an utter whirlwind of information, and she’s not entirely sure which piece has been the biggest to wrap her head around: that she’s not dead, that her husband _is_ , or that she’s in another galaxy.

It’s a testament to just how in shock she’s been by it all that _my daughter is in a committed relationship with two men, one of whom is an alien I’ve never heard of_ hardly fazed her at all. The last she remembers, Victoria’s longest relationships were with textbooks. She’s clearly missed quite a bit. Victoria’s promised to catch her up on everything, but the more important thing is getting her up to speed on the _present_.

Harry’s cautioned her away from too much excitement at once, reminding her that for all the years that have passed while she was asleep, she’s still only a week recovered from _very nearly dead_. So she’s meeting Tori’s boyfriends one at a time. She met Liam yesterday - a nice man, kind, an optimist, devoted to making the Initiative work, and clearly in love with Victoria. Tori was always an upbeat, positive person, but Ellen swears there’s a light inside of her daughter that wasn’t there before, a light because of Liam, and because of Jaal.

She spies the seven-foot tall angara a split second before she sees Victoria’s bright orange hair. She waves them over. Tori showed her pictures, and has told her much about them - and that’s an oddity as well, Ellen’s always regretted that they weren’t closer and she suspects there’s a deeper story to Victoria’s sudden closeness beyond _I died and she missed me_ \- but not enough to prepare her for the sheer _size_ of Jaal. Both he and Liam are a good head taller than Victoria, but Jaal’s broad shoulders and muscular frame seem to dwarf her. He keeps a gentle hand on her lower back as they make their way to her bed.

Ellen doesn’t know a thing about angaran facial expressions or body language, but the way Jaal’s looking at her - curious, and definitely a little nervous - brings a smile to her face. She looks over at her daughter.

“Mom, Jaal. Jaal, my mom, Ellen.” She gestures to each of them as she makes introductions.

Jaal smiles, and takes a half-step forward and then hesitates.

Ellen nods at him, and then suddenly Jaal’s hugging her. “Oh!” she exclaims quietly, a little surprised, and then brings her arms up around him as best she can. His hug is careful, mindful of the fact that she’s healing, but still strong and fierce. She looks at Victoria over Jaal’s shoulder.

“He does this,” she grins.

“It’s an honor to meet you, true mother of Victoria,” he says, giving her a little light squeeze before pulling back.

Ellen sits up a little straighter against the pillows, and smiles. “You make my kid happy,” she says, “the honor’s mine.”


	11. tipsy kiss (g; victoria/liam, victoria/jaal)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three hours is a long time for Victoria to be out just "getting a drink" with Drack, and Liam goes looking.
> 
> prompt: a tipsy kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [also on tumblr](http://dearophelia.tumblr.com/post/161868369997/6-for-the-best-mea-ship)
> 
> and if anyone has any specific prompts they'd like to see featuring these three, feel free to ask!

Victoria giggles - an actual, honest-to-god _giggle_ \- and her foot catches on the last step, sending her stumbling into Liam.

Liam smiles and puts his arm around her shoulders, part out of affection, part to help her stand up, and part - if he’s being honest - to keep anyone still standing in Kralla’s Song from getting any smart ideas about taking out the Pathfinder while she’s toasted. “You’re drunk,” he says, stating the very obvious.

“Little bit,” she says, holding up her thumb and forefinger for him to see just how much. “Got in a fight, too.” She turns her hand around, showing off her scraped and bruised knuckles.

He looks over her head and catches Drack’s eye. Victoria could take on the whole bar if she was really determined, but she tends not to go out of her way to pick fights. Drack, on the other hand - Liam rolls his eyes. The krogan simply shrugs at him and goes back to his ryncol. Liam adjusts his arm as Victoria sways a bit; he’ll get the story out of Drack later. “Let’s get you back to the ship.”

Victoria hiccups. “Okay.” She leans her head against him and follows his lead out of the bar.

Liam tightens his arm around her and leans over to kiss the top of her head. They step out into Kadara’s setting sunlight, dark oranges and pinks met with neon greens and blues as the market’s signs brighten in the dusk. He’s sure there are people watching her every move here, just as they are everywhere, but it’s almost like they can be normal here. Boyfriend and girlfriend, just walking back from the bar.

Kadara’s a shithole, but at least it doesn’t whisper as they walk past, doesn’t come right up to her and demand her help.

Victoria stops, right there in the middle of the market, and looks up at the sky. She then looks over at him, smiling wide.

And in that moment, she’s not the Pathfinder. She’s not Ryder. She isn’t carrying the stress of her last name or the responsibility of her title, she’s just Victoria - a girl he likes a _lot_.

She lifts up on her toes and he meets her for a kiss. He slides his arm down around her waist, helping her stay steady even as she breaks away and settles back down on her heels.

After a moment, sure that she’s not going to topple over, he continues walking them back toward the _Tempest_. Jaal’s waiting for them in the airlock.

“Hi!” she chirps, slipping out from under Liam’s arm to hug Jaal. She trips over her own feet and falls into him.

Jaal catches her and presses a kiss to her forehead. “Did you have fun?” He raises his brow - an expression adopted from Victoria - at Liam over her head.

Liam makes a drinking motion with his fingers, and Jaal nods in understanding.

“Drack and I beat up the _whole bar_ ,” she says, just as proudly - if not more so - than when she told Liam.

“Ah,” Jaal says, gently guiding her out of the airlock and down the glass walkway. “Congratulations.”

Liam stifles a laugh and follows them.

Victoria’s in the middle of reenacting a particularly-energetic headbutt when she stops in the middle of the walkway. She turns and looks up at both of them, a soft, starry smile on her face. “I love you guys,” she says quietly. She pauses a moment, and then kisses Liam’s cheek, then Jaal’s, and takes their hands.

The soft smile disappears, replaced by a smirk and a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. She winks, and takes the lead back to their quarters.


	12. i won’t lose you (victoria/jaal, liam)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: “I won’t lose you” for Victoria & Jaal

Liam detonates the omnigrenade a split second before Victoria cloaks, and she charges into a chaotic knot of burning, bleeding kett. Someone shouts a warning, and then a sudden rush of heat dries the sweat on the back of her neck. Victoria spins and blindly fires into the ascendant, dodging out of its bubble before it has a chance to grab her. She’s lost track of where anyone is on the field - just red dots and green dots on her visor - but a combination of bullets take the orb down and the ascendant’s shield drops. Without hesitation, Victoria fires a COBRA into the ascendant, nearly point blank, and waits only long enough to make sure it’s dead before she turns back to the rest of the battle. Acrid smoke fills her nose as she activates her flamethrower, finishing off the platoon just as Sloane yells about another dropping in to their left. 

_SAM, Adept mode_. Victoria takes a deep, centering breath and runs across Meridian’s green grass, past brilliant red and purple flowers. As soon as she feels the tingle settle in her spine, profile switch complete, she pulls an annihilation field tight around her and sprints into the mess. She dives in front of Kandros, throwing her shield up to block both of them from a behemoth’s grenade. 

“Thanks,” Kandros says, breathless. 

Victoria nods at him and throws a bolt of biotic energy at the anointed spooling up its machine gun. The explosion echoes throughout the valley, knocking a few foot soldiers off their feet, but only staggers the anointed. With a growl, she fires two rounds from her Dhan into the gunner. Its head explodes in a mess of ugly bile green and she spins, looking for a new target.

“Ryder!” Liam yells through the gunfire and explosions.

Victoria scans the battlefield, and SAM highlights Liam on her visor, crouched between a large crate and a boulder. She dissolves her annihilation field and runs. Without her even asking, SAM switches her visor profile to medical as she tugs off her backpack while dodging kett and grenades.

It’s not Liam. It’s Jaal. 

Her visor lights up red with alarms as she slides onto her knees. “What happened?” she demands, ripping into her backpack for the angaran medkit. 

“Ascendant,” Liam says, keeping his hands steady on the wound, despite blood spilling out around his fingers. 

Jaal groans and tries to sit up. 

“Lie still,” she orders, pushing on his shoulder until he stills on the ground. She runs a scanner over him and shakes her head. She could help him right here, get him bandaged up and stable, but he’s in no shape to keep fighting and it would take too long - she’s the only one who can activate whatever’s waiting for them inside those doors. “I need an emergency medical extract,” she calls into her comms, not caring who answers. “Jaal’s hurt, bad.”

 _”On our way, Ryder,”_ Raeka says. _”Ninety seconds.”_

“I can fight,” Jaal says. He coughs. Speckles of blood dot his mouth.

“Sure you can,” Victoria says, ripping open a package of gauze. She packs gauze in around Liam’s hands, then gestures for Liam to pull back. Quickly, she finishes field dressing the wound, sealing it with medigel, and moves on to his arm. Three separate breaks light up on her scanner. “Just maybe not today.”

Jaal coughs again, and wipes his mouth with his unbroken arm, leaving a smear of blood across his lips. He struggles to sit up halfway, and immediately drops down when both Victoria and Liam push him back. 

“What part of _lie still_ didn’t translate?” she snaps. With a tiny shaky breath, she softens. “I have to get you out of here,” she says, almost apologetically; she knows how much he wants to be here, watching her back. “I can’t - I’m _not_ going to lose you.”

He blinks at her, sparkling blue eyes as piercing as always. “Nor I you,” he says, voice hoarse.

Shuttle engines rumble above them, faint heat at their backs. 

“I’ve got Liam,” Victoria says with a smile. “I’ll be fine.”

Raeka and Cora jump out of the shuttle, stretcher board at the ready. Jaal’s eyes flick from Victoria to Liam. 

“ _We’ll_ be fine,” she promises. She leans over and presses her forehead to his. “See you on the other side,” she kisses him softly, then moves out of the way so they can get the board underneath him. Liam grabs Jaal’s hand and squeezes as they lift him up. 

As the three of them get him strapped in, Victoria relays everything to Moshae Sjefa and Lexi, via comms. “Take him straight to the _Tempest_ ,” she orders the pilot. 

“Yes ma’am,” the turian says, and turns to comm Kallo. 

Victoria squeezes Jaal’s hand, gives him a smile, and jumps back out of the shuttle to Liam, who’s taken up position by Sloane, working on a throng of chosen. Cora follows her, taking Jaal’s place on the team, and her visor switches back to combat mode, updating with Cora’s stats instead of Jaal’s. They both dive into cover behind a container. 

She watches the shuttle rise into the air, and squints in the bright sun as the shuttle disappears into a small point in the sky. When she can’t tell it apart from birds, Victoria turns back to the fight. She pulls her annihilation field back, and runs into the fray. Cora charges in beside her, detonating an explosion that rocks the entire area. Between the two of them, Liam, Sloane and Kaetus, they make quick work of the remaining kett. 

Liam taps her on the shoulder as they reconvene at the door, offering a smile. Victoria returns it, and gives his hand a little squeeze.

“Alright,” she says after giving orders for the others to hold the line here. “Let’s go.”


	13. the full bullpen (g; jaal, ot3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I waxed the floors, grab your fluffy socks"

Jaal’s come to the conclusion that while humans are good at many things, boredom is not one of them. Leave a human alone for an hour with nothing to do and you’ll come back to find that they’ve invented a game with nothing more than a pair of boot laces and flatware for scoring, or rearranged the items on every shelf in every cabinet by color, or built a precarious tower out of furniture in order to dust the very tops of the briefing room monitors. 

Or decided that the newly-waxed _Tempest_ floors are an acceptable method of testing one’s relationship with friction. 

Specifically, that the newly-waxed walkway between the cockpit and research lab is an acceptable location for said test.

“Physics isn’t on your side, Ryder. Cannot be done.”

Victoria arches an eyebrow. “Want to put your money where your mouth is, Kosta?”

“You’re on. Drinks at Vortex.”

Shaking her head, Victoria pulls her bright orange hair up into a ponytail. “No. Let’s make this serious. Loser pulls laundry for two weeks.”

“No,” Liam says, folding his arms over his chest. “Uh uh. Not a fair bet, you like laundry.”

“Name your terms, then.”

He thinks on that for a moment. “Dish duty. Two weeks. Loser does ‘em all. Whole crew’s dishes.”

Victoria tilts her head in acknowledgment. “You’re on.” She walks up to him and they shake hands. 

“This is a recipe for a broken neck,” Lexi mutters. But, like the obstacle course, she makes no move to stop it. 

“Tell the Nexus guys not to wax the floors next time she’s in drydock, then,” Victoria says, walking across the glass catwalk to the cockpit. Suvi’s leaning against the open frame, keeping the doors open for her. 

Jaal trusts Victoria, and has certainly seen her manage any number of miracles on the battlefield. But this - humans are strange. They’ve not become any less strange the more time he spends with them. Quite the opposite. 

She experimentally rubs her sock-covered toe on the glass, and makes a pleased-looking face at the results. 

“Is this wise?” Jaal asks. He not a scientist, and does not know the equations to determine which of his partners is correct, but launching herself at a slippery surface while wearing lime green fuzzy socks seems like one of the least-wise things Victoria has attempted in the months he’s known her.

“Not remotely,” Cora says, though, like Lexi, she sounds unconcerned. “But friction will stop her before she runs into anything. And Vetra’s set up pads in the hallway,” she points down.

Jaal’s brow furrows, and then he understands. In case she falls off.

Humans are strange. And, if he’s being honest with himself, a bit stupid. Creative. Lovely. Kind. Strange. Stupid.

Still, he steps out of the way.

Victoria stands beside the map, lining up with the hallway. She breathes on her hands and rubs them together, as if that will have any effect on her feet. She inhales deeply, centers herself, and then sprints. 

Her arms flail for a split second after her feet hit the walkway, but she catches her balance and remains centered on the glass. Her speed noticeably slows halfway - “No biotics!” Liam calls, to which he earns himself an eye roll - but she keeps sliding. 

She only stops when her feet hit the deck plating. Another flail of her arms at the sudden stop, but she stays upright. 

“Stuck the landing, too,” Cora observes. “Well done.”

Victoria grins, and pretends to pose in success.

“Nailed it,” she smirks at Liam as the rest of the crew returns to their duties. “Have fun doing dishes.” 

Liam groans loudly and mimes falling to the floor. 

Jaal chuckles at Liam’s exaggerated display of defeat. Victoria lifts up on her toes and kisses Liam in consolation. Liam then turns to Jaal and gives him a thumbs up with a wide, goofy smile, as if it was the first time Victoria ever kissed him. Shaking his head, Jaal smiles and returns to his weapon bench.

Creative. Lovely. Kind. Strange. Stupid. _Happy_.


End file.
